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Ita’s Honey Cake

Arianna shares a family recipe for honey cake, handed down by her grandmother. Her family has made a tradition of eating Ita’s Honey Cake every year for Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year.

Honey Cake for Rosh HaShanah

Separate five eggs, whites in one bowl and yolks in another. Add the yolks into a bigger mixing bowl, and mix together with a couple tablespoons of sugar until a fluffy yellow mixture. Add a cup of honey while mixing. After it becomes a cream mixture, add three TB of vegetable oil. In a separate bowl, stir together 19 oz of all purpose flour, half tsp of baking soda, and half tsp of baking powder. Prepare 1 and 1/4 cups of cooled black tea. Keep the mixing bowl at a low speed, and alternate between adding the tea and adding the flour mixture. Avoid over-mixing to prevent a tough dough.

Next, prepare the meringue, the second part of the cake. In an empty mixing bowl, mix together the egg whites, a little bit of cream of tartar or some drops of lemon, and a pinch of salt. After the mixture starts fluffing, slowly add a cup of sugar. Mix until fluffy and not runny.

With a rubber spatula, add half of the meringue into the bowl with the dough. Fold slowly. Add the rest of the meringue and fold slowly. Prepare a cake mold by spraying it with non-stick oil and lightly covering the bottom and sides with flour. Pour the batter into the mold, only filling it 3/4 to allow room for the cake to rise. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

After the cake has baked and cooled, sift a layer of powdered sugar onto the top.